Since its inception as the Whitbread Ocean Race in 1973, the round-the-world
race has mustered an array of colourful stories as well as its share of
mishaps.

By Kate Laven and Rod Gilmour

6:00AM GMT 09 Mar 2012

1. 1985-86: Simon Le Bon, lead singer of pop band Duran Duran, took part in the race and came third overall on Drum, a yacht that he and two others comissioned and built for the race. As part of their training, they competed in the 1985 Fastnet, but the keel fell off and the boat capsized leaving Le Bon and other members of the crew trapped under the hull for 40 minutes before being rescued. It was Le Bon's involvement that gave rise to the phrase 'rock star sailor'.

2.1993-1994: French boat La Poste had to leave Punte del Este in Uruguay on the fifth leg to Fort Lauderdale with just 11 sailors. Four crew had earlier been arrested after detaining and beating a burglar who was caught ransacking the house they were staying at.

3. 1989-90:Tracy Edwards put together the first all-female crew in the Whitbread - Maiden - with £800,000 sponsorship and support from the Royal Jordanian Airlines and the King of Jordan. They caused a stir by sailing into Fort Lauderdale wearing skimpy swimsuits, capturing many front page photo slots across US and UK newspapers. Their homecoming in Southampton was witnessed by 250,000 crowds.

Tracy Edwards and crew in swimming suits (PPL Photos)

4. 2005-2006: Bouwe Bekking - who endured multiple bad luck in his Ocean Race career - and crew on Movistar abandoned ship when a keel pivot bearing broke away from the hull. The crew were transferred to ABN AMRO Two but the boat sank 307 miles west south west of Lands End. It has never been recovered from the ocean floor.

5. 1997-98: Silk Cut's Gordon Maguire, a pin up sailor known as 'Gorgeous Gordy', caused a rumpus when he left his wife for Page 3 glamour model Jo Guest (below) mid-campaign. They met on a publicity shoot when they were both hoisted up a mast to promote the Whitbread Race. The tabloids were full of their 'nautical nookie' but Gordy dumped her a year later.

6. 1997-98: Here's one to tell the grandchildren... Chris Dickson, on Toshiba, recalls being punched in the face by a flying fish. "Shirt off and all concentration, wind about 15 knots and boat speed about 12 when WHACK, I was punched in the face by a rather aggressive flying fish doing 20 knots in the opposite direction: left me close to seeing stars of the non-galactic type. A black eye and bruised eyeball were soon forgotten but the fishy smell has taken a little longer to get rid of".

7. 2005-2006: The only woman in the race, Adrienne Cahalan,was sacked as navigator on Brasil 1 at the end of the first leg from Vigo to Cape Town. It came like a bolt from the blue, said Cahalan, who had been named Australian Yachtsman of the Year a few months earlier. Not speaking Portuguese and her lack of Southern Ocean experience were cited as reasons for her dismissal though skipper Torben Grael left it to someone else to tell her. “I have not spoken to Torben and I’m not able to contact him. He didn’t speak to me face to face and I was obviously disappointed he did not tell me himself," she said.

8. 2002-2003:Amer Sports One skipper Grant Dalton threatened to run naked through the streets of Auckland, his home town, with a pineapple stuck up his backside if the women on Amer Sports Too (below) crossed the finish line ahead of him on any leg. He was beaten by the girls on the final leg from Gothenburg to Kiel. He has yet to live up to his bet.

9. 1981-82: Italian entry Vivanapoli arrived eight days late in the first leg to Cape Town after the boat and crew were detained by an Angolan warship. Marines boarded the yacht 150 miles south of Luanda and discovered South African visas in the sailors passports. The whole crew were arrested on a charge of 'spying' and detained for seven days before being released. They carried on racing.

10. The Ocean Race will always produce eye-catching pictures, none more so when something dramatic happens to one of the competing boats. Step forward Martela in the 1989 Whitbread when she lost her keel and turned turtle. The crew forced to hold on to the bucking hull until a rescue was made near Argentina.